Louis Weichmann

[Pamela]

Regarding why Louis didn't mention the incidents described by his sisters, and I agree with Roger that there might have been embellishment or a little evolution of memories over the years but that they occurred; he might have been worried about the repercussions of giving details of attempts on his life. He may have thought he would live to a ripe old age and didn't want to inspire any more crazies to come after him. Maybe he didn't publish his book for the same reason. After all, the Klan is still around 150 years later. At that point in his life perhaps he knew he couldn't handle the stress of the publicity his book might have brought. He had a spell of "nervous prostration" and had to close his school for six months as a result.

I like the fact that ultimately, he didn't publish, put his faith in "truth loving people", his manuscript survived decades of changing family hands and finally made it's way to very capable, dedicated and appreciative collector of history.

BTW, he stated clearly in his book, I'll try to find the passage, that despite the suspicious activities, enigmatic statements, false mustaches, etc, he never imagined that his friend John could be involved in a plot to kidnap/kill the President and other heads of government, and believed that no one in his position would have reached that conclusion either. Hindsight 150 years later is 20/20.

At one point, he agonized for three days whether to report Augustus Howell to authorities, but decided, out of friendship with John, not to.